The present invention relates to an interface means between a network switch and a Computer Telephony Integration, hereafter abbreviated with CTI, server means, as mentioned by the preamble of claim 1, and to an apparatus for providing a service to at least one customer as is further described in the preamble of claim 26
Such an apparatus, wherein a network switch as well as a CTI server means are coupled via a particular interface, is already known in the art, e.g. from the PCT application WO 98/01987“Method and apparatus for implementing a network call center”. Therein a network provider call center is described, offering automated call distribution services to customers outside it. This network provider call center includes a network switch and a computer-telephony integration, abbreviated as CTI, system. This CTI system includes a CTI server corresponding to the CTI server means of the first and of the 26this claim, a stat-server and a routing server. The latter two devices are needed for offering the automated call distribution service of the prior art system, and as such correspond to the executable means for executing the service as described in the preamble of claims 1 and 26 of this document. The CTI server, as is described on page 8 of the prior art document, thereby acts as a bridge between the network switch on one hand, and an application programming interface to the executable means comprising the prior art stat-server and routing server on the other hand.
Within the prior art system, the network switch is directly coupled to the CTI-server, via a CTI link of this network switch, as is stated in line 15 of page 8 of the prior art document. The interface means of the prior art system thus consists of such a specific CTI-link. Such a CTI-link may for instance consist of a standardised CSTA interface, whereby CSTA is the abbreviation of Computer Supported Telecommunications Applications. At the time of the invention, however, most of these public switching network switches do not contain such a CTI link, and consequently need to be especially equipped with this. Furthermore, as is explicitly mentioned in lines 12 to 14 of page 8 of the prior art document, in case a network operator who is possessing various types of such network switches manufactured by different companies, wants to offer call center services throughout its network, different versions of such CTI servers have to be implemented and installed, in order to match with the variety of switches made by the different manufacturers. Together with the fact that these different versions of the CTI server can only interface with the various network switches on the condition that these network switches have such a CTI-link, the prior art solution is very complicated and expensive for public switching network operators, since each network switch has to be specially equipped with a CTI-link and per type of switch a dedicated CTI server is to be used.